Lovelorn man starts shooting

After Michael Ansell was denied the woman he desired, he shot her boyfriend and himself.

By ERIN SULLIVAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 9, 2007

HOLIDAY - The young man waited in the dark on Cemetery Road. He had a gun in his hand.

He was waiting for Fleurette Flowers, the object of his affection -- or of his obsession.

His intentions were unclear, but according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the terrifying scene unfolded like this a little before 9 p.m. Friday:

Flowers, a few days shy of her 35th birthday, came home with her 2-year-old daughter, Rianon Flowers, and her boyfriend, 49-year-old Samuel Brush.

They got out of a van and walked to the front door of Flowers' house in Holiday.

That's when Michael Ansell, 26, came out from the darkness and stood on the driveway.

He began firing.

One shot grazed Brush's chest and entered his left arm.

Ansell fled on his bicycle and rode to his home on Calvary Road, just a few blocks away. There, he shot and killed himself.

Brush was flown to an area hospital, where he was treated for injuries that weren't life-threatening. Neither Flowers nor her daughter was injured.

Flowers told authorities that Ansell had been stalking her, though a public records search did not turn up any legal action by Flowers against Ansell.

There was no information about what kind of relationship Ansell and Flowers had, if any.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 8, 2007, 21:59:34]